Abrogated Laws: Limitations Upon Ones Apparel and Beard

Limitations Upon One’s Apparel and Beard

The Lord hath relieved you, as a bounty on His part, of the restrictions that formerly applied to clothing and to the trim of the beard. He, verily, is the Ordainer, the Omniscient. . Let there be naught in your demeanor of which sound and upright minds would disapprove, and make not yourselves the playthings of the ignorant.

(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Bahá’u’lláh, para. 159)

The seventh Glad-Tidings: The choice of clothing and the cut of the beard and its dressing are left to the discretion of men. But beware, O people, lest ye make yourselves the playthings of the ignorant.

(Glad-Tidings, Bishárát, Bahá’u’lláh)

Many rules about dress had their origins in the laws and traditional practices of the world’s religions. For example, the Shí‘ah clergy adopted for themselves a distinctive headdress and robes and, at one time, forbade the people to adopt European attire. Muslim practice, in its desire to emulate the custom of the Prophet, also introduced a number of restrictions with regard to the trim of the moustache and the length of the beard.

Bahá’u’lláh removed such limitations on one’s apparel and beard. He leaves such matters to the “discretion” of the individual, and at the same time calls upon the believers not to transgress the bounds of propriety and to exercise moderation in all that pertains to dress.

(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Notes NO. 175)